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SYDNEY - Big Brother housemate Emma Cornell spent the night crying after she was informed of her father's death on Saturday night ahead of her eviction from the Australian reality show last night.
She appeared late in last night's show after she was, as predicted, eliminated from the show but only briefly addressed the issue of her father's death as highlight reels of her time in the house were shown.
Cornell, 24, said she wanted to grieve with her family, who she met immediately after she left the Gold Coast house.
"I want to leave it alone tonight as was my father's wish," she told the show's host Gretel Killeen.
Cornell's father Ray died from cancer about three weeks ago and it was his dying wish that his daughter not be told of his death until she was evicted from the Gold Coast compound.
Controversy followed the announcement by Big Brother and Cornell's family that she wouldn't be told until her eviction.
She was told her father had died by her brother Matt, in a private room with the show's resident psychologist, on the eve of her first chance at being evicted from the show.
Big Brother producer Kris Noble said last week that when she was eventually informed of the death, it would be a private moment and this was confirmed in a statement released by producers yesterday.
The statement read in part:
"Because Housemate Emma had been nominated and faced possible eviction tonight, last night, with the full support of her family, Emma was told in private that her estranged father had passed away.
Her brother Matt conveyed this news to Emma in the company of Big Brother's resident psychologist.
That meeting will remain private.
Big Brother has taken advice from the psychologist, with the full support of Emma's family, that she be told of her father's death last night (Saturday) so that she would have time to process the news in the event she was evicted tonight (Sunday).
Big Brother also wanted to ensure Emma had sufficient time to consider whether she wished to go on stage with Gretel during tonight's Live Eviction show.
Emma was offered counselling and was given the option to leave the house immediately if she wished.
Like all Emma's supporters, Big Brother looks forward to hearing Emma tell her own story."
- AAP
